Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband Sean and I are here in Canada and early in the adoption process. We are looking at private infant adoption through an adoption agency. My question is around getting ready. When we successfully match it is almost a certainty it will be with a newborn and there’s a 30% chance it’s a no-notice match and we have days rather than months to get ready. How would you recommend preparing? Do you think getting a crib, ...
Nov 30, 2024•10 min•Season 18Ep. 94
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Can our kids heal from all the hard things they've experienced? Is there something we can do to help? Join us today to learn about the power of positive childhood experiences with Dr. Robert Sege, the director of the HOPE National Resource Center at Tufts Medical Center. He holds a MD degree from Harvard Medical School and a PhD degree in biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this episode, we cover: What are some...
Nov 27, 2024•44 min•Season 18Ep. 93
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband and I were foster parents in the US, and have since relocated to Denmark for his work. We both still feel called to adopt from foster care, and would like to do that from the US. We know that the US and Denmark are both members of the Hague Convention, and can adopt from each other. You have great resources about international adoption, but usually from the perspective of a person in the US adopting from a fo...
Nov 23, 2024•6 min•Season 18Ep. 92
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you planning to adopt or have you recently adopted? If so, you need to listen to this discussion about what to expect during the first few weeks or months you are home! Our guests are Michelle Kennedy and Deborah Artis. Michelle Kennedy has been a social worker with Methodist Home for Children for 27 years. She has direct care experience in residential and foster care services and has been working with youth and families in t...
Nov 20, 2024•51 min•Season 18Ep. 91
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband and I adopted our nephews four months ago. The two boys are sons of my niece; she gave her kids to the Family Department five years ago, and last year, we at last knew about the boys. They've been a year with us. I have a daughter, 21, and a son, 17, who were okay with the adoption, but now they say they feel this is not their home; they don’t feel at peace in their house and think It was not a good idea to a...
Nov 16, 2024•9 min•Season 18Ep. 90
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Do your kids drive you crazy over the holidays? Does their behavior escalate? Join our conversation to learn why and what you can do about it. We will talk with Erin Nasmyth is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with a Master’s in Social Work. She is the co-founder of Adoption Support Alliance, which provides services and support to adoptive families. She has worked in the public and private adoption and foster care system....
Nov 13, 2024•50 min•Season 18Ep. 89
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: I see that you have information regarding prenatal substance exposure. Is there information regarding biological mothers that hate their pregnancy or their baby, but carry it to full term and put it up for adoption? Are there resources that would address the emotional impact on the baby? Resources: Understanding the Birth Mom/Parent's Experience Talking with Kids About Adoption Raising a Child with Prenatal Substance Ex...
Nov 09, 2024•4 min•Season 18Ep. 88
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Do you wonder if your child was prenatally exposed to alcohol or drugs? There may be nothing in the files, but something feels not right? We talk about diagnosing and treating these kids with Dr. Larry Burd, a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and the Director of the North Dakota Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Center. In this episode, we cover: Most of our audience is foster, adoptive, and kinsh...
Nov 06, 2024•51 min•Season 18Ep. 87
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: I will ultimately decide on whether to try induced lactation to breastfeed an adopted baby on other factors, but I would like to make my decision with my eyes wide open. I like my breasts as they are, but I have been told all my life that pregnancy and breastfeeding change the breasts (making the breasts saggy and the nipples larger). Do adoptive parents who induce lactation suffer from similar issues? I have also heard...
Nov 02, 2024•5 min•Season 18Ep. 86
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Should you adopt a child of a different race? What things should you consider? Join our conversation with Dr. Gina Samuels, an adult transracial adoptee and a Professor at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago. She is also the Faculty Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture. Her scholarly interests include transracial adoption and mixed-race and multi...
Oct 30, 2024•1 hr•Season 18Ep. 85
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband and I are nearing finalization of our five-month-old adopted son. We don't currently have any other children. Throughout our time in the adoption process, I have spent time learning about adoption trauma and the complexities of adoption. I want to be well-informed as our son grows up and aware of the difficulties he may face. However, my question is, are there stories of adoptees, especially males, who have e...
Oct 26, 2024•11 min•Season 18Ep. 85
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Does your child struggle with planning/organizing, time management, and impulse control? Join us for our interview with Dr. Joyce Cooper-Kahn, a clinical child psychologist who specializes in the treatment of children and adolescents with ADHD, executive functioning challenges, and other learning disabilities. She is the author of Late, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parents' Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning . In thi...
Oct 23, 2024•54 min•Season 18Ep. 84
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My niece has been living with her paternal grandparents for two years. She is now four and they have decided that it is getting too hard for them. We’ve agreed to take her in. She knows us, but we haven’t spent much time with her. What’s the best way to move her to our home that will cause the least psychological damage to her. She is very attached to her grandparents. Resources: Kinship Parenting Resources Transitionin...
Oct 19, 2024•5 min•Season 18Ep. 83
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Join us to talk about how kids understand adoption and how best to talk with them about adoption. Our guest is Camillia Whitehead, is a MSW and a licensed clinical social worker, and the Founder of Wise Care Consulting, LLC. In this episode, we cover: How does a child’s understanding of adoption differ by age? Toddlers & Preschoolers School Age Tweens/Teens Young Adults How does openness or lack of openness impact a child’s u...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 18Ep. 82
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: Do you have any suggestions for articles or posts on telling a sibling that their new baby sibling is third-party conceived (e.g. donor egg)? We haven't told our 5-year-old son that we are pregnant yet, and I'm wondering if it is appropriate to tell him we used donor eggs at the same time we drop the big news that he will be a big brother. He will already have questions about conception. Too much info all at once? Sugge...
Oct 12, 2024•4 min•Season 18Ep. 81
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Teens and sex are a scary topic for lots of parents. How can we impact our kids' decisions and what do we say? Join our conversation today with Dr. Debby Herbenick, a Provost Professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, where she leads the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior. She is the author of Yes Your Kid: What Parents Need to Know About Today’s Teens and Sex . In this episode, we cover: ...
Oct 09, 2024•56 min•Season 18Ep. 80
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: We are seriously considering becoming foster parents. We have 2 children by birth, and I am really worried about how this will affect them and what I can do to prevent some of the negative effects. Resources: The Impact of Fostering and Adoption on Kids Already in the Family (Resource) Talking with your Resident Kids about Foster Care or Kinship Care (Resource) Support the show Please leave us a rating or review. This p...
Oct 05, 2024•9 min•Season 18Ep. 79
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you often bewildered by your child's behavior? Check out this interview with Dafna Lender, a LCSW and a certified trainer and supervisor/consultant in both Theraplay and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy. She is also an EMDR therapist. She is the author of “Theraplay® – The Practitioner’s Guide” and “Integrative Attachment Family Therapy: A Clinical Guide to Heal and Strengthen the Parent-Child Relationship.” In this episode...
Oct 02, 2024•53 min•Season 18Ep. 78
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: I wanted to bring up something about your article on the risks for an expectant mom changing her mind. You have a point that says any placement before five months into the pregnancy is a risk. We recently had a match with a woman who was only four months along. We asked about this, and our agency tells us that there is no correlation between the time of the match and disruption. What is the truth? Resources: Understandi...
Sep 28, 2024•5 min•Season 18Ep. 77
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. One of the hardest parts of being a kinship caregiver is navigating the relationship with the child’s birth parent. We talk with Dr. Joseph Crumbley, a social worker, family therapist, and author of “An Overview of Kinship Care.” In this episode, we cover: Creating a Family listening sessions with kinship caregivers in rural counties. What are some of the complicating factors in the relationship between kinship caregivers and the...
Sep 25, 2024•52 min•Season 18Ep. 76
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: Can I use my home study for a different type of adoption? This question arises in the following types of situations. Someone is applying to adopt an infant domestically and gets a home study from a domestic adoption agency. They then decide that they want to adopt from foster care and ask if they can use their domestic home study for foster care adoption. Or, they have applied to adopt internationally and want to know i...
Sep 21, 2024•5 min•Season 18Ep. 75
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you an aunt or uncle raising your nephew or niece? Or are you curious about the unique challenges these families face? Check out today's podcast with a panel of four aunts raising their sibling's child. In this episode, we cover: Who are you raising? How old were they when they moved in? How long have they been with you? Didn’t ask for this. Less of a feeling of obligation than grandparents feel. Navigating relations with the...
Sep 18, 2024•54 min•Season 18Ep. 74
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: I’m a single 38-year-old woman. I’ve always been interested in fostering, but I thought I’d wait until I got married. That doesn’t seem to be on the horizon, and I’m tired of waiting. Is it possible to foster as a single woman? Will it be too hard? I prefer a baby placed with me since I'm new to parenting. Resources: Becoming a Foster Parent Fostering as a Single Parent Self-Care for Foster Parents Support the show Plea...
Sep 14, 2024•3 min•Season 18Ep. 73
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. How can something that happened in past generations impact us now and affect the way we parent? Join our conversation with Beth Tyson, a childhood trauma consultant and former family-based trauma therapist. She is the author of the children’s books A Grandfamily for Sullivan and Sullivan Goes to See Mama . In this episode, we cover: What is intergenerational trauma? In essence, intergenerational trauma is the passing of the emoti...
Sep 11, 2024•49 min•Season 18Ep. 72
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband and I have been married two years. I'm 44 and he’s 61. Is there an age limit to be able to adopt a baby? Resources: Domestic Infant Adoption (Resource page) Foster Care Adoption (Resource page) Adoption Options Support the show Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org . We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster &...
Sep 07, 2024•3 min•Season 18Ep. 72
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. What should you expect when adopting internationally or bringing a child into your home from foster care? Check out our discussion with Dr. Robin Gurwitch a licensed clinical psychologist with close to 30 years of experience in evidence-based treatments and the impact of trauma/disaster/terrorism on children. She is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center and the Direc...
Sep 04, 2024•48 min•Season 18Ep. 71
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Resources: Adoption Comparison Charts Adoption Agencies (Resource page) International Agencies (Creating a Family partners) Types of Adoption (Resource page) Support the show Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org . We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family...
Aug 31, 2024•4 min•Season 18Ep. 70
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Have you ever wondered what adult adoptees really think about adoption? Join us to hear about the Profiles in Adoption: Adult Adoptee Experiences report, based on research by the National Council for Adoption. In this episode, we cover: Who did you interview for the Profiles in Adoption: Adult Adoptee Experiences report, and how did you find them? You separated your responses by type of adoption. How satisfied are adult adoptees ...
Aug 28, 2024•50 min•Season 18Ep. 69
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: We have two boys, ages 10 and 12. We’ve been told that if we become a foster family, the foster children will have to have a room to themselves. Our boys can share a room for another year, but then we want to separate them. Can we just foster for one year? How long do foster kids usually stay? Resources: Becoming a Foster Parent Raising Foster Children Working with Birth Parents for the Child's Best Interest Support the...
Aug 24, 2024•3 min•Season 18Ep. 68
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. There is a huge need for foster and adoptive homes for LGBTQ+ youth in foster care. We interview Holly Harridan and Dr. Shelly Ronen. Holly is a Senior User Experience Researcher at Bloom Works and an applied Anthropologist with a background in queer and feminist studies. Dr. Shelly Ronen is a Senior User Experience Researcher at Bloom Works. She has a Ph.D. in Sociology and specializes in gender and sexuality. In this episode, w...
Aug 21, 2024•48 min•Season 18Ep. 67
